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The Prey (1983) / The Lift (1985)





Tonight I watched a pair of 80’s horror flicks on Tubi. First up was this early 80’s slasher about camping teens who are stalked by a disfigured killer. Hmmm… I wonder where they came up with that idea?













The movie starts with footage of a forest fire. You can hear people screaming in the woods, perishing in the flames. Years later, an older couple who are enjoying a campfire dinner are murdered by a mysterious assailant. Next, a group of 6 teens (3 couples) drive up to the woods, with plans to hike, camp out, go swimming and rock climbing. Like typical slasher characters, the guys just want to get the girls in the sack, while the girls keep jumping at noises they hear in the woods and having their concerns ignored. And of course, there’s the disfigured maniac stalking them, the only survivor of that forest fire who doesn’t take too kindly with strangers invading his turf.










This movie is really bad. The script doesn’t bother to give the cast any character development, much less motivation. Who are these people? Do they have any backstory or future plans? Nothing. There’s also this one park ranger who for the most part doesn’t do much until the end. Most of his scenes are irrelevant, showing him talking to a forest animal, and playing a banjo. And speaking of animals, the film is filled with scenes of various forest creatures (birds, a raccoon, insects, etc.). I guess due to the lack of a plot, they had to find a way to pad out the running time. There’s also several pointless scenes of the teens hiking and frolicking. The kills are also average, except for the one that opens the film, and the bloody but funny climax. The makeup of the killer looks pretty cool, it’s just too bad he’s not fully seen until the end. This flick is ultimately a forgettable bore, playing like a dollar store version of Friday the 13th, without any of its suspense or thrills. There are much better 80’s slashers out there.









The next one was an English dubbed Dutch film called The Lift, about an elevator in a building in Amsterdam that suddenly begins to kill people.





During a stormy night, 4 people who had a fun night of eating and drinking in the restaurant in the building get trapped inside the elevator when the power goes out during a lightning storm. They almost suffocate inside it when the AC shuts down, but are saved when the power comes back on. The building management calls in Felix, a technician from an elevator company, to come and examine the electrical system. At first he doesn’t find anything wrong, but then a night watchman gets decapitated by the closing elevator doors. Felix is perplexed as to what’s causing the elevator to malfunction, and ultimately partners up with a journalist to try and solve the mystery.












This movie was pretty funny. The plot plays like an Italian giallo, with the main character slowly uncovering clues in an effort to try and solve the murders, only the killer is an elevator instead of a glove wearing psychopath. The dubbed dialogue is cheesy as hell, and there’s a silly subplot about Felix’s wife thinking that he’s cheating on her that ultimately has nothing to do with the rest of the story. There’s also shady characters, silly science, entertaining murders (the decapitation is absolutely hilarious), and the explanation for why the elevator is killing people is completely ridiculous. Perhaps something got lost in translation, but ultimately, you’ll laugh at the lame reveal. The Lift is entertaining b-movie nonsense.















 

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